Swagbucks

Okay, I am lucky enough to get people asking me what Swagbucks is ALL the time. I love telling people about it and all the super cool things that you can do with it. But I think I'm just going to post about it so when people ask me, I can just send them to my blog! Aren't I smart? : )

ONE: Swagbucks is 100% FREE to sign up and is 100% scam free.
(I had a bad experience with a big scam a few years ago. So, now I make sure that I'm not going to get screwed when I sign up for things)

TWO: From what I've read about, Swagbucks gets paid by companies to get people to do surveys, take daily polls, special offers etc. Swagbucks then rewards us "Swaggernauts" with points. When you get so many points you can trade them in for gift cards, sweep sakes and TONS of other prizes.

THREE: You earn Swagbucks by taking daily polls, playing games, watching the "Swagbuck TV", printing their coupons and using them, special offers, using their toolbar, doing searches just like you do on Google, taking surveys and (my favorite way) getting referrals. You can make tONS of points by getting referrals. Get people to sign up that will actually do it. Not just sign up and never use it. Example: I have a couple friends that signed up under me, but one has gotten me almost 2 gift cards just because she is an excellent "Swaggernaut." Thanks Brittney! I didn't sign up under anyone because I didn't know that people could get points for doing it. I wish I would've signed up under my friend Kendra to get her tons of points.. but too late. Sorry Kendra!

Swagbucks is a great way to save up some points for the things that you may want, but don't have enough spending money for it. We used a lot of our Swagbuck points to get Amazon credits. we bought part of our Christmas thanks to Swagbucks & it really helped out. Now that Christmas is over I want to save up fun Disney movies for Summer. We don't have hardly and Disney movies, and to buy them on Blu Ray is SO expensive. Thanks to Swagbucks (again!) I am getting my credits to use for movies and other fun stuff. Today I just bought Snow White on Blu Ray on Amazon using my Swagbucks credit. Isn't this awesome?

It took me a while to get used to how it works and how to do everything. Once I sat & messed around with it I quickly figured out how to use it. If you have any questions feel free to ask me & I can help you out. I am turning out to be a Swagbucks expert. : )

I hope this helps! If you think that Swagbucks is for you then there is NO harm in signing up. When you do sign up you can sign up under me here..
Swagbucks

OR.. you can click on my Swagbucks banner on the right side of my blog.

Christmas 2010

Here's a few of my favorite pictures this Christmas.

(in this pic Summer held up her phone & said "It's Santa!")

We had a good Christmas this year. Not completely overboard like we did last year..
which our bank account really enjoyed.

Some highlights this Christmas:
1. Summer loves Santa. But not the real Santa.. she hates the real Santa
(Yesterday at Cabela's she said "Hi Santa!" to this older man with a
gray beard in line behind us.. oh my.)
2. We went to the Layton Park lights probably 5 times
this December because Sum loved them so much.
3. All 3 of us got Super incredibly sick this month..
at the same time. UGH! Not fun.
4. The girls night out with my mom-in-law, my sisters & my
mom was super fun. We went to Abbey's new favorite "elegant"
restaurant called Gourmandise & ate more dessert than dinner.
Then we went to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir & David Archuleta
Christmas concert.

Our Christmas traditions:
*Christmas Eve we go to my parents to make gingerbread houses (this year I won the contest.), eat dinner and open our Christmas Jammies.
*Christmas Day we got to Scott's family's house to eat Christmas breakfast.


Summer's favorite toys this year are her princess kitchen &
her puppies that she can take on little walks.

Scott got a really nice set of binoculars from my parents
and lots of hunting gear from his..
We just need to get him out & actually hunting! : )

I love my new black sparkle Toms that Scott gave me.
And I got my first sewing machine & I'm super excited to use it!

And The Princess Has Arrived..

Summer LOVES "pretties" and LOVES The Little Mermaid.

I guess it's a good thing that Grandma Garfield bought a Princess Ariel jewlery set to leave in her super cute playroom. (The necklace even sings Ariels "Ahhh ahhh ahhhh" song. That is Summer's favorite song to sing.) Summer loves it.

I love my princess.

..Speaking of princesses.. if you haven't seen Tangled.. GO see it!

It was the cutest Disney movie out there.. Summer LOVED it!

Why?

Why am I such a big dummy?

Why did I let Summer color in her room alone while I took a shower?

Geeze louise.. LESSON LEARNED.

Sick

So, I've been tempted to put up some police tape on my door to quarantine off my house.. not really. But I should.

Have you seen 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later, I Am Legend or Resident Evil?

I am Milla Jovovich fighting off all these disgusting germs, carrying my can of lysol spray around.

I feel like I am the only person on this earth who is not leaning over the toilet sick, laying in bed all day with the flu. And I haven't even had my flu shot yet! : ) Anyways, I am next I'm sure.. and I am writing this to say farewell to all my beloved blog followers. I will see you in 28 Days.. maybe. : )

O Christmas Tree

Yes, I'm blogging about my Christmas tree!

I have been neglecting my blog lately & decided I would share

some Christmas cheer..

so here it is..

I'm pretty proud of it!

We had lots of other ornaments the 1st year we were married.. I made a them a few years ago and put them on our tree this year. I was almost in tears! I hated all my homemade ornaments! What was I thinking? Birds made of felt? Umm no! So I went on a search for cute & cheap ornaments. Found them! Targets bargain section. Gotta love Target.

Summer LOVES it! When we first get up in the morning she points to the tree and says "Liii pweee!" Translation: "Lights please!" She counts to 3 with me as I turn them on and almost freaks every time I turn them on. Sum also kisses the ornaments and then tells them good bye everytime we leave. It's so cute.

I love Christmas, all the memories that come with it and new ones you get to make!

Temple

So I found this picture while in google mode..

Pretty sweet right?

I love it.

I love the temple.

Thankful..

Okay, everyone else is doing it,

so here's my Thanksgiving thankful list..

1. Family of course, Scott and Summer complete me

2. Church, the gospel, scriptures

3. To live in the greatest country in the world

4. BLOGGING

5. My kitchenaid.. I'd be lost without it!

6. A job that I get to take Summer with me to work

7. Living in a great neighborhood (& ward) with amazing friends

8. That the Holidays are here.. my favorite time of the year

9. Being a mother

10. My parents.. they're the best.

"No"

Summers favorite word: No.
UGH! : )
Why can't it be "Yes!"?

Anyways.. Tender Moment of the Day:
Summer and I were coloring together and I kept asking for loves and kisses.. each time I'd ask she'd say "No". Then I'd ask.. "Do you want to take a nap?" She says: "No". Then I'd say "Do you want a drink?" .."No." "Do you want a snack?" .. "No." And right after all these "No's" I asked her a question I quickly regretted asking..
I asked Summer, "Do you love mama?" My heart immediately sunk.. knowing she was going to just say no because she said no 10 times before this question. Summer looked up at me and said "Yaaa!"

Ahhh.. happy heart.
I love her.
I love being a mom.
I couldn't imagine life without these small gestures of love. They make parenting worth every ounce of worry and stress.

Love Notes

So, I decided that I need to write more in my journal. I'm writing a ton on here.. but most likely my journal is going to be the thing that lasts a lifetime. Blogging seems to be the current craze.. but 40 years from now.. when my children want to look at what I've wrote.. they aren't going to want to look at my blog, but my journal.

Anyways, I opened it up to write a page or two, and looking at my last entry.. it was back in JANUARY! Oops!

I want to look back and be reminded about my daily life. When I read my first couple pages of when Scott and I were dating I think and laugh.. "HOW on earth did I love EVERYTHING about him SO much?!" Haha. I love him so much.. but now he drives me crazy.. unlike back then! It's so much fun to look back and see my helplessly head over heels love confessions for Scott.

I have a pocket in the back of my journal that holds some things that mean everything to me. Important letters, patriarchal blessing and love notes from Scott. I opened all my old love notes from Scott and reread them all. It makes my heart happy, SO happy to reread them. How sure we were that we would get married and have children..

Anyways.. just a happy post. Go reread your old love letters!

I Love Snow..

..In the mountians,
and in the mountians only!

It is so pretty.. in the mountians.

There was a small snowstorm last night,

and it was NOT in the mountians..

it was down here. Uggg.

I'm pretty sure I live in the wrong state.

Pumpkins & Kitties

Gosh, don't you just love this cute face?

Well, this little cutie got to go pick pumpkins in the
pouring rain yesterday with our friends..

It was pouring & freezing cold, but made for a good memory.
The babies were in the wagon shivering.
Lisa was running/pulling the wagon.
I was holding the umbrella over the babies heads while trying to keep up with Lisa.
Hahaha.

The days not over yet though..
Later we go to the neighborhood Trunk or Treat.
Summy looooved it & she was the cutest kitty around.

A Mother's Love

What would you do without your little one?
Me? I wouldn't know what to do next, where would I go? What would my next step be? What on EARTH would I do without my sweet little Summer? With no degree, living paycheck to paycheck, still working, going to school, going INSANE, the only thing I have going for me is being a good mom. I can honestly say I never really knew what true happiness was until my little Summer was brought into this world.

It's rough, SO rough. As many of you know Summer was a honeymoon baby. It wasn't a real big surprise that we were having a baby though, we weren't too careful.. we didn't think much of the future. We both knew that we wanted to have kids.. just not right then. Heavenly Father had different plans for us though.. and we haven't looked back since. She has been nothing but a joy from the first time I held her in the hospital. Sure, there have been times I have picked up the phone, utterly stressed, begging my mom to take her for the night (she takes her of course!).. and then what happens? I wake up the next morning not knowing what to do next. I miss her so incredibly much. My heart aches.

I can't sleep tonight. I sat up thinking of the 1 million things that I need to do this weekend. Came downstairs, got on FB and then found this amazing blog.

patrickandashley.blogspot.com

Check them out. But be sure to grab a box full of tissues. Their story really hits home. She's 22 (I'm 22 in 2 days) and her daughter passed away at 18 months due to a accident (Summer's 17 months).

Anyways, I'm posting this to remind all you ladies, well mostly MYSELF, to cherish each and every moment. Every single one. I love my sweet Summer so much & want to slap myself in my face every time I get frustrated at her or when she gets hurt or when life gets so busy that I can't even read her a book.

My cherished moment of the day..
Summer has learned the word "cookie". She loves oreos. I hate Oreos. When she eats them she gets them ALL over. Anyways, today Summer fell and hit the front of her face on a metal bar really hard. I immediately picked her up & let her cry on my shoulder. She was so upset but I figured she would just cry it out. My sister took a peek at Summer to see if she had any bumps on her face and little did we know there was a huge stain of blood on my shoulder. SCARY! We immediately ran inside to check out what it was. When I lifted her off my shoulder she looked at me (still crying hysterically) and said "Cookieeee!" Ohhh my little pookie, I love her so much. Anyways, she hit her nose and mouth somehow and she is fine now. Sleeping away in her crib.

I hate it so much when Summer gets hurt. I wish more than anything I could take the pain away. But, the moments where she reaches out to me, when she wants nothing or nobody else in the world.. when everything depends on me letting her know that everything will be alright and reassuring her that the world will go back to normal in about 5 minutes.. it almost makes the owies worth it.

Summer has been pointing to her lip all night and saying "owie".
I think she just wants us to know she has a owie. Oh, she is so cute.

Is there anything better than being a mom?
I sure don' think so. Motherhood is the best thing to happen to me and has made me into a much better person.
Thank you, Summer.

This is a pic of our most recent adventures at the zoo.
Summer loves animals. We had so much fun.

Movie's & Books

SORRY! I know it's annoying to read posts where EVERYTHING is underlined.. but I don't know how to get it off. oops

Movies First:

1. Wall Street
Money Never Sleeps

I did not know there was a prequel to this movie.
But I don't think you missed anything by not seeing it.

Scott & I really liked it. I don't know a lot about Wall Street so it was fun watching it & learning some new stuff! And Shia LaBeouf was so cute in this movie.. I've always thought of him as the annoying brother in "Even Stevens".. but yes.. he was a cutie in this movie.







2. Life as we Know it

Love, love, LOVE this movie. It may be my new favorite movie. It was so tender, fun and sad.. all in ONE movie! I seriously thought I was going to pee my pants a few times.. and then there were parts I was sinking down in my seat so nobody would see me cry! If you're a mom you will think this movie is the best!.. and if not, you'll still love it! And of course it was nice seeing Fergies beau down to his undies. Go see it!

Books

1. I Am Number Four

I absolutely HATED this book, until I got to the end. It was way too slow for me. The ending made me want to call up the author and demand him to hurry up with the 2nd one. There is going to be a movie made of this book.. so it will be interesting to see how they do it. So if you don't mind super slow books.. you might like it. But I really don't reccomend it.









2. Grave Sight

I borrowed this from the library because the author of this series wrote the "Sookie Stackhouse" series (my fav. books of all time!) And I was very disappointed. I also checked out the 2nd book in this series and didn't even open it.
Bummer.
I guess I will just have to wait for the 11th Sookie Stackhouse book to be wowed by Charlaine again.. and yes, we are on a first name basis.

3. Mockingjay

Last but not least, those of you who did not like this book are CRAZY! I looooooved it. I thought it was a great ending to the series. I didn't see how it could end any other way. The first part was pretty slow, but the ending was fast paced and exciting! I'm so sad that the series is over, but I really enjoyed the book. Oh, and if you haven't read the first 2 in a while you might want to reread them. I wish someone had told me that. But, the book really doesn't go over bit by bit what happened in the first 2 and if you haven't read them in over a year (like me!) you might get confused at some parts. But yeah, Like I said, this series is just so great. They are one of my favorite series of all times. The books are SO powerful & you can really relate to the characters.

WARNING: MAJOR "MOCKINGJAY" SPOILER IN COMMENT SECTION AND BELOW!

I loved that Katniss ended up with Peeta. I didn't think that Gale could've taken care of Katniss the same way Peeta could. When I read the part where Peeta was brainwashed by the capitol I was seriously crushed. I love Peeta and always have!! He's my hero. I am so sad the book is over. I was sad that Prim died.. SO SAD. I thought Katniss was going to go crazy like Peeta had and then the book was just going to end there. But, I think we all knew that someone important in the book was going to have to die, right? But the end of the book made it all worth it. Great job Suzanne Collins!

If you've read Mockingjay post a comment. I want to hear your opinions!

Cheese!

I HATE buying cheese. Hate it, Hate it, Hate it! It's too expensive for me. Why? Isn't it just orange mold? Anyways, I almost always use coupons when going to the grocery store. But my friend just posted a very helpful couponing blog (Here's her post: http://bkjohnfamily.blogspot.com/2010/10/couponing.html) and on a coupon site she listed guess what I found..
A coupon for ANY brand cheese. So now I can go buy the cheap Western Family cheese, and get it for a dollar less.. and so can you because I'm going to give you the link. I'm so excited I'm probably going to make a trip to the store just for my cheese. But hurry and use it because it expires at the end of the month I think.

Here's the link to clip it:

http://www.utahdealdiva.com/2010/10/wahoo-save-1-on-any-brand-cheese.html

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Can you tell I love pumpkin?

I love fall & everything to do with it. The food, the leaves, Thanksgiving, the

(Thank goodness!) cool weather, Halloween and the food!

Here is a fun recipe for pumpkin cupcakes with

maple butter cream frosting.

Can you say "Yummy!"?

Pumpkin Cupcakes

1 1/2 C. Flour

1 Tsp. Ground Cinnamon

3/4 tsp. Baking Powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 Tsp. Ground Allspice

1/2 Tsp. Ground Nutmeg

1/4 Tsp. Salt

1 1/2 C. Sugar

1/2 C. Veg. Oil

2 Eggs

1 C. Canned pumpkin puree

(Not pumpkin pie filling)

2 TBS. Cream Sherry

1. Mix flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, nutmet and salt.

2. Then mix sugar, oil, eggs in a different bowl until they are smooth. Add pumpkin & sherry, beating well. Add mixture #1 then beat again until smooth.

3. Scoop batter into muffin pan (be sure to use muffin paperliners). Bake for 22-27 mins @ 350*. Let cool for 10 minutes.

Maple Butter Cream Frosting

2 C. Powder Sugar

3/4 C. unsalted butter

2 TBS Pure maple syrup

1/2 Tsp. Maple flavored extract

& a pinch of salt

Baby Pictures

I was determined to look for pictures of Summer
that looked like me when I was a baby..
I found one!
At least I think we look alike in these pics.


This is a newborn of Summer.

This is a newborn of me.


SEE!
Although Summer is Scott's little clone now..
she did look like me for at least 2 weeks of her life : )

Yummy Fall Breakfast

Here's the recipes you guys have asked for.
(and i'm posting this as I'm making my own pumpkin pancakes!)
WARNING:

They are the most delicious pancakes EVER!
I would double both recipes if you are serving more than 4 people.

Buttermilk Syrup:
In large saucepan:
1 cube butter
1 C. Buttermilk
1 TBS. Corn Syrup
2 C. Sugar
*Boil stirring 1-2 Mins.
Then, put on low heat and add 1 tsp
of vanilla & 1 tsp. baking soda

My Moms Pumpkin Pancakes
(actually, they are the internets, but my mom used to always make them!)
1 C. Flour
1. TBS. Sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 eggs. SEPARATED
1 C. milk
1/2 C. cooked or canned pumpkin
2 tBS. Veg. oil
*Combine dry ingredients into bowl. In another bowl whisk the egg yolks, milk, pumpkin and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. In mixing bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form into batter.

And WAAA LAAAA! You're done!
Enjoy!

Halloween

Welcome to my home..

I just love Halloween.. don't you?

I don't have a lot, but I thought I'd share some of my new decorations with you guys. Most of it is from Tai Pan.. gotta love that store!.. and my mom. My mom is queen decorator. She has the most decked out house for every holiday.. you should see it at Christmas! I'm so not the decorator that she is.. but I hope to be one day! : )

Halloween is my favorite holiday for decorating.

What's yours?

Baby Olympics

Let me set the mood:

1. Today, Summer had a horrible breakfast because I had to hurry to a Dr. appointment this morning. She had her "baba" and a couple bites of a banana.
2. When I get home I make her some scrambled eggs. Summer see's the eggs and points at her high chair.. (she wants to get in it to eat.)
3. I tell her the eggs are really hot and I pop them in the freezer to cool off. I go into the front room to clean up some toys, leaving a hungry Summer in the kitchen by herself.

Here's the kicker:

4. I have a feeling that I need to check on Summer. (Don't you just love those "feelings"). I come into the kitchen and Summer has pulled the chair from underneath the table, climbed onto the chair and then INTO HER HIGH CHAIR. She was hungry and just wasn't going to wait!

I think Summer is training for the baby olympics..

Lately, Summer will get bored while I am getting ready for the day and climb on top of the toilet seat, onto the toilet lid and then onto the counter and think she is so funny.

The other day I was outside spray painting some stuff and I look at the window and Summer has climbed up the very top of the couch and onto the window. (Scott was watching her.)

Dad

My sweet dad has been having pains in his head after a bad accident last Winter. He found out a while ago that it is called Trigeminal Neuralgia.. also known as the "Suicide Disease" because it's so painful.

Here's what it is: episodes of intense facial pain that last from a few seconds to several minutes or hours. The episodes of intense pain may occur paroxysmally. To describe the pain sensation, patients may describe a trigger area on the face so sensitive that touching or even air currents can trigger an episode. It affects lifestyle as it can be triggered by common activities such as eating, talking, shaving and brushing teeth. The attacks are said by those affected to feel like stabbing electric shocks, burning, pressing, crushing, exploding or shooting pain that becomes intractable.

Just reading that makes me tear up to think that my dad is going through so much pain. I feel so sorry for him & would do anything to take his pain away. My dad is such a sweet, caring and loving person.. he doesn't deserve to have to go through this. But I hope it's a way that Heavenly Father is testing his faith.

Anyways, I'm writing this because my dad has been on my mind a lot lately. He has to have brain surgery on October 6th. I feel like it's just looming ahead, though I know that he's going to be alright. I know that some of you know my dad and most of you don't but, if you want to save a spot for him in your prayers I would just love it.

Kitchenaid

Okay, I know I'm posting about the most random stuff. And you guys are probably sick of seeing that I have a new post like EVERY DAY. But I have decided I LOVE blogging. I love trying to figure out cute new stuff for it and telling everyone new things.

Anyways.. my post of the day.. drumroll.....

Look at what I'm getting!:

Scott and I recently got some extra "gift" money.. more extra money than we've had since we've been married.. (THANKS MOM & DAD!) And I'm trying super hard to remind myself that we have lots of bills. But, it's much more fun to go shopping than to pay bills. : )

Anyways.. I am splurging on this Kitchenaid Mixer. I have been needing/wanting one for SO LONG. And this one matches my kitchen. Instead of buying a new one for $300 I found this one on KSL for almost half the price!

Baby Blabbering...

Today, I was asked by 2 different people in my ward if I was new.. umm no. I've been living here since April. I don't want this to turn around and bite me in the butt by revealing who.. but the one was my relief society president! I guess I'm a huge baby.. but this seriously hurt my feelings.. and I'm a super huge baby.. so I guess that's why I'm blogging about it. It's no secret that Scott and I have had a hard time going to church in the past and I don't pretend that I'm the perfect church wife. I try though! Since Marchish I've got Summer and I (Scott works Sundays) to church every week.
So anyways.. that's me in a nutshell being a big, fat, whiny baby.

"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"

My awesome dad reccomended this book to me and let me just say..... Ohhhh my goodnesssss! This is the best book I think I have ever read!!! It was so amazing. The plot was exciting and the end leaves a pretty fun cliffhanger.
I am so not exaggerating when I say I'm giving this book a:

9.8 out of 10!

It's a good thing there are 2 others in the series. I don't think I can wait for my holds at the library.. I might have to make a stop at Target!

This book is written by a Swedish author that unfortunately passed away after he wrote the 3rd book. From what i've looked up this book is HUGE in Europe.. I think it's Americas present equivalent of Twilight.. although it's NOTHING like Twilight. I couldn't put this book down and when I did I just sat up for hours thinking about what would happen next and then have to pick it back up again. The book is kind of dark and a little racy (spelling?!) at times though.

Brief summary: Swedish journalist is working on a crime investigation that happened 40 years ago and expert computer hacker (Girl with the dragon tattoo) is hired to help him solve a case that nobody else could.

And guess what! It's a movie (they still speak Swedish in it, but what are subtitles for?) at Redbox (In Europe it got a rating of A- so it must be good.. you know how critics are..) and I'm going to pick it up on the way home from work for movie night with my hubby tonight! : )

Vintage Cupcake Photoshoot & New Project

So, my cute friend informed me there was a cupcake shop on 24th st. in Ogden. Yippe! Who can pass up yummy gourmet cupcakes?! We made a family trip up there. We ate at the Bistro on 25th.. yummm. And then went over to Vintage Cupcake for dessert. What a cute place! It's a good thing I brought my camera! Scott was so embarrassed of my photo shoot with Summer he decided to wait outside.. Silly boys. : )

(Haha, my favorite picture is this first one. Summy was so cute looking at all the pretty cupcakes!)




Oh.. and here is my next project..

The Binky Fairy

The day we took away her binky, cold turkey, we've been dreading it for a month. Oh man, it was just as bad, possibly worse, than we thought it would be.
The "binky fairy" came while Summer was napping. When Summer came downstairs she saw all her binkys (nipples cut off!) and a new present in the middle of the floor. She must have known something was off because the second she saw it she started balling. She went for the present before the binkys (yay!).. it took her about 10 minutes to get close to them though.
Summer is just SUCH a binky girl. We should've done this earlier. Anyways, after she played with her little pony for a few minutes, we told her that her binkys were going "bye bye" and she even helped me throw them away. I took Summer and the box of binkys out to the dumpster and threw them in. I said "Summer, say bye bye binkys" by then she started crying and in the most dramatically way possible she yelled "BYEEEEEE!" It was a disaster.
My thought was : Make a big deal out of no more binkys, that way she can get it through her head easier that she can't have them anymore. (We went cold turkey this time. Last month we tried just giving her binkys at nap and bed times, it was too tempting for me to pop it in her mouth!) Last night she put up a fight going to sleep. She cried for bout a hour in her crib! : ( "Beeee Beee Beee!" (Binky) And this morning was even worse. She cried for almost 4 hours straight because she didn't wake up with a binky in her crib. : / Hopefully tonight will be better!

Summer at (almost) 16 Months

Oh my,
Where to start? I know I always talk about books and a little of what is going on in life, but why don't I talk more of my sweet Summer? I think I've just got my head wrapped too much around the book contest I'm having with myself.

I love this little cutie SO much. I can't believe how big she's growing. She now points to pictures of Christ and says "Jeeesus! Jeeesus!" : ) Ahh my heart is melting. Some more things Summer likes to do now is hug and kiss. She will hug and kiss everything. My parents dog, books, little girls at church, the little boy I babysit, seriously, everything!

The first person in our family (other than mama & dada) that Sum can say their name is Abbey. She loves her aunts. One day I was doing homework and our computers (BOTH) crashed! So I went to my parents to finish it. Aunt Abbey watched Summer for hours. (My sisters are so good to watch Sum. I love it.) When we came home Summer kept saying "Ahhbee Ahhbee Ahhbee!"

Summer & I have been having "moments" lately. We have so much fun together. A moment we had the other day: I was feeding her lunch. And she did NOT want to eat. So I sat down and put her bananas on a spoon. She tried to pick up a banana off the spoon, but it was slippery and it fell on the tray. I said "UH OH!" (a little dramatically). And she thought it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. The only time I've heard her laugh so hard is when we're tickeling her. So then she held the spoon to me. I knocked off a banana slice onto her tray, said "uh oh!" and again, she died laughing. It went back and forth like that for 10 minutes. I honestly don't know the last time I had so much FUN! : )

I love my little girl so much. I am so blessed to have her in my life. And I never take for granted that I get to be her mommy. I love being a mom more than anything in the whole world! I know everybody always says "Ohhh they grow so fast, blah blah.." But they REALLY DO! I was holding my little 3 month old niece the other day and was thinking "Oh my goodness, It seems like just yesterday Summer was this small. Smiling at me and staring at me like I was the most interesting thing she had ever seen in her life." Of course I miss the stage where Summer wasn't throwing food at me and having melt down fits when I take her binky away. But every day life just gets sweeter and sweeter with her.

Here's some of my favorite pics of baby girl: